Picon, Antoine | 2023 | Yale University | 9780300247510
Subject: Political Science
Source:
Review: The Sensible City Lab at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology in Cambridge studies innovation in the built environment. In this complex, highly illustrated collection of digital maps, lab co-founder Carlo Ratti and architecture historian Antoine Picon analyse four essential urban dimensions: motion, connection, circulation and experience. Sensible puts the focus on human agency, rather than t...Read More
Atlas of the Senseable City
The Sensible City Lab at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology in Cambridge studies innovation in the built environment. In this complex, highly illustrated collection of digital maps, lab co-founder Carlo Ratti and architecture historian Antoine Picon analyse four essential urban dimensions: motion, connection, circulation and experience. Sensible puts the focus on human agency, rather than the technology centred in the term smart city. But the authors never address whether digital mapping's impact will also be sensible.
Review: In Beijing Rules, Bethany Allen shows in vivid detail (and fluent prose) just how China uses its growing economic heft to protect its core interests. The most sensitive of these are, as one might expect, geopolitical: Beijing's controversial rule over Hong Kong, Tibet and the Xinjiang Autonomous Region (home to the Uyghurs), as well as its territorial claims in the South China Sea and its revanchi...Read More
Beijing Rules: How China Weaponized Its Economy to Confront the World
In Beijing Rules, Bethany Allen shows in vivid detail (and fluent prose) just how China uses its growing economic heft to protect its core interests. The most sensitive of these are, as one might expect, geopolitical: Beijing's controversial rule over Hong Kong, Tibet and the Xinjiang Autonomous Region (home to the Uyghurs), as well as its territorial claims in the South China Sea and its revanchist attitude toward Taiwan. More broadly, of course, there is the Chinese Communist Party's monopoly on political power.
Monosson, Emily | 2023 | W. W. Norton & Company, | 9781324007012
Subject: Science and Technology
Source: The New York Times
Review: Like The Last of Us, the entertainment franchise in which a fungal pandemic turns people into zombies, Blight emphasizes the scary things that fungi can do in this case, especially to plants and trees.Read More
Blight Fungi and the Coming Pandemic
Like The Last of Us, the entertainment franchise in which a fungal pandemic turns people into zombies, Blight emphasizes the scary things that fungi can do in this case, especially to plants and trees.
McKenzie, Ben | 2023 | Abrams books | 9781419766398
Subject: Economics
Source: Financial Times
Review: McKenzie, famous for his role in the drama The O.C., provides a gripping write-up of his personalnjourney to unveil what he considers to be the con underpinning the crypto world. From meetingsnwith the CIA to an engrossing interview with Sam Bankman-Fried, McKenzie shows he is equallyncomfortable with economics and investigative journalism, as he is with Hollywood....Read More
Easy Money: Cryptocurrency, Casino Capitalism, and the Golden Age of Fraud
McKenzie, famous for his role in the drama The O.C., provides a gripping write-up of his personalnjourney to unveil what he considers to be the con underpinning the crypto world. From meetingsnwith the CIA to an engrossing interview with Sam Bankman-Fried, McKenzie shows he is equallyncomfortable with economics and investigative journalism, as he is with Hollywood.
Levitt,Theresa | 2023 | Harvard University Press | 9780674250895
Subject: History
Source:
Review: Alchemists once maintained that there was an essence that distinguished living matter from non-living. Chemist Antoine Lavoisier repudiated this in the 1780s, but decades later, douard Laugier and Auguste Laurent were unconvinced. Historian Theresa Levitt skilfully dramatizes how they worked by day in a Paris perfume house, distilling natural essences and creating scents; by night, they investigat...Read More
Elixir : A Parisian Perfume House and the Quest for the Secret of Life
Alchemists once maintained that there was an essence that distinguished living matter from non-living. Chemist Antoine Lavoisier repudiated this in the 1780s, but decades later, douard Laugier and Auguste Laurent were unconvinced. Historian Theresa Levitt skilfully dramatizes how they worked by day in a Paris perfume house, distilling natural essences and creating scents; by night, they investigated the vital essence. They helped to uncover asymmetries between natural and synthetic molecules that still can't be explained.
Houston, Keith | 2023 | W. W. Norton & Company | 9780393882148
Subject: History
Source: The Wall Street Journal
Review: In 1976, Steve Wozniak sold his HP-65 programmable calculator for $500 to start a computer company with Steve Jobs. It wasn't a huge sacrifice. As a calculator engineer at Hewlett-Packard, he knew that the HP-67 was on its way and, with his employee discount, he could buy one for $370. His more highly prized gadget was the HP-35 the world's premier scientific calculator and his inspiration for goi...Read More
Empire of the Sum: The Rise and Reign of the Pocket Calculator
In 1976, Steve Wozniak sold his HP-65 programmable calculator for $500 to start a computer company with Steve Jobs. It wasn't a huge sacrifice. As a calculator engineer at Hewlett-Packard, he knew that the HP-67 was on its way and, with his employee discount, he could buy one for $370. His more highly prized gadget was the HP-35 the world's premier scientific calculator and his inspiration for going to work at HP in the first place.
Mikanowski, Jacob | 2023 | Penguin Random House | 9781524748500
Subject: History
Source: The Wall Street Journal
Review: East Germany, though essentially occupied by the Soviet military, harbored people with rich and animated personal lives. Poland and Hungary were places of relative political freedom, where I enjoyed many unforgettable late-night student bull sessions. Czechoslovakia was, like East Germany, repressive, but stunning in its Gothic and baroque majesty, conjuring an enlightened past made more palpable ...Read More
Goodbye, Eastern Europe
East Germany, though essentially occupied by the Soviet military, harbored people with rich and animated personal lives. Poland and Hungary were places of relative political freedom, where I enjoyed many unforgettable late-night student bull sessions. Czechoslovakia was, like East Germany, repressive, but stunning in its Gothic and baroque majesty, conjuring an enlightened past made more palpable by the absence of crowds. Northwestern Romania was a craggy, awe-inspiring mountainous landscape overlaid by a rich if dilapidated Hapsburg influence, while the flatlands of southern Romania echoed an Ottoman past. Bulgaria almost felt like the Middle East, despite the boisterous Black Sea resorts. More fundamentally, I learned that Europe was not only Catholic and Protestant, but Eastern Orthodox and Muslim, too.
Review: In Graveyard of the Pacific, Randall Sullivan notes that the mouth of the Columbia River, which lies roughly 700 miles north of San Francisco on the Oregon-Washington coast, is one of the most perilous waterways in the world. As it winds its way south from British Columbia, Canada, the 1,200-mile river flows through four mountain ranges and acts as the confluence of several major rivers the Snake,...Read More
Graveyard of the Pacific: Shipwreck and Survival on America's Deadliest Waterway
In Graveyard of the Pacific, Randall Sullivan notes that the mouth of the Columbia River, which lies roughly 700 miles north of San Francisco on the Oregon-Washington coast, is one of the most perilous waterways in the world. As it winds its way south from British Columbia, Canada, the 1,200-mile river flows through four mountain ranges and acts as the confluence of several major rivers the Snake, Yakima, Willamette and hundreds of smaller tributaries. It drains more water into the Pacific than any other river in the Americas; during the snowmelt season, it discharges freshwater at an estimated rate of 1.2 million cubic feet per second.nnThe two great hydraulic forces crashing together can generate shockingly huge breakers, Mr. Sullivan tells us, some as high as sixty-five feet, with a heavy undertow beneath them. And that's not the worst of it. Tons of silt are carried to the mouth of the river to form the ever-shifting Columbia River Bar, an unseen underwater obstacle that's beached many a ship, leaving it to be battered and destroyed by the unrelenting surf.
Review: Around 1450, the Venetian government commissioned a monk named Fra Mauro to make a mappa mundi, a map of the world. His map is a circle nearly 7 feet in diameter, crammed with illustrations and annotations; the work took several years. When it was done, it was the most detailed and accurate map of the known world that anyone had yet made....Read More
Here Begins the Dark SeanVenice, a Medieval Monk, and the Creation of the Most Accurate Map of the World
Around 1450, the Venetian government commissioned a monk named Fra Mauro to make a mappa mundi, a map of the world. His map is a circle nearly 7 feet in diameter, crammed with illustrations and annotations; the work took several years. When it was done, it was the most detailed and accurate map of the known world that anyone had yet made.
deBoer, Fredrik | 2023 | Simon & Schuster | 9781668016015
Subject: Political Science
Source: The Wall Street Journal
Review: Viruses were unknown to Charles Darwin. They were discovered to be a source of infection in the 1890s, and named with the Latin for poison. But, as virus ecologist Marilyn Roossinck stresses, not all are agents of disease: some benefit their hosts by helpRead More
How Elites Ate the Social Justice Movement
Viruses were unknown to Charles Darwin. They were discovered to be a source of infection in the 1890s, and named with the Latin for poison. But, as virus ecologist Marilyn Roossinck stresses, not all are agents of disease: some benefit their hosts by help
Heemstra, Marjolijn van | 2023 | Penguin Random House | 9780593792544
Subject: General
Source:
Review: Dutch space reporter Marjolijn van Heemstra is also a poet, novelist and playwright. This translation of her highly personal meditation on the Universe reflects lyrically on the fact that the atmosphere signifies a boundary, whereas space appeals to our notion of boundlessness. She notes a growing difference of opinion between those who see space exploration as irresponsible because our planet is ...Read More
In Light-Years There's No Hurry
Dutch space reporter Marjolijn van Heemstra is also a poet, novelist and playwright. This translation of her highly personal meditation on the Universe reflects lyrically on the fact that the atmosphere signifies a boundary, whereas space appeals to our notion of boundlessness. She notes a growing difference of opinion between those who see space exploration as irresponsible because our planet is in deep trouble, environmental and otherwise, and those who regard space as a potential refuge from Earth.
Freedman, Samuel G. | 2023 | Oxford University Press | 9780197535196
Subject: History
Source: The New York Times
Review: In the 1940s, as mayor of Minneapolis, Hubert Humphrey led it to become one of America's most progressive cities in terms of racial justice. This biography is a superbly written tale of moral and political courageRead More
Into the Bright Sunshine : Young Hubert Humphrey and the Fight for Civil Rights
In the 1940s, as mayor of Minneapolis, Hubert Humphrey led it to become one of America's most progressive cities in terms of racial justice. This biography is a superbly written tale of moral and political courage
Review: Academically trained author Rob Boddice experienced agonizing neck pain as a teenager, with patchy medical treatment. This has continued to trouble his adult life as he says in his ambitious history of pain, drawing on numerous periods and societies. The book underlines pain's complexity, arguing that research into it must involve the humanities and social sciences to understand pain's experientia...Read More
Knowing Pain: A History of Sensation, Emotion, and Experience
Academically trained author Rob Boddice experienced agonizing neck pain as a teenager, with patchy medical treatment. This has continued to trouble his adult life as he says in his ambitious history of pain, drawing on numerous periods and societies. The book underlines pain's complexity, arguing that research into it must involve the humanities and social sciences to understand pain's experiential contingency. He therefore draws not only on medical and scientific texts but also on artistic works.
Winchester, Simon | 2023 | William Collins | 9780008484392
Subject: History
Source: Telegraph
Review: Each Voyager spacecraft carries audio-visual discs which contain, among other recordings, clips of different sounds, including some songs by Blind Willie Johnson, a Black American gospel blues singer. Johnson died penniless, and his grave is unmarked. He may not be remembered a few hundred years hence on Earth but an intelligent alien civilisation, it is hoped, would know him and his music. This r...Read More
Knowing What We Know: The Transmission of Knowledge From Ancient Wisdom To Modern Magic
Each Voyager spacecraft carries audio-visual discs which contain, among other recordings, clips of different sounds, including some songs by Blind Willie Johnson, a Black American gospel blues singer. Johnson died penniless, and his grave is unmarked. He may not be remembered a few hundred years hence on Earth but an intelligent alien civilisation, it is hoped, would know him and his music. This remarkable story gives rise to several questions about what knowledge is, and how it can be passed on through time and beyond spatial boundaries, queries that Simon Winchester tries to answer in this book. Winchester charts the history of the dissemination of knowledge throughout human civilisation, from Plato?s Socratic Dialogues in ancient Greece to the online encyclopaedias that are so easily accessible today. If names like Ren Descartes and Immanuel Kant make you break out in cold sweat, fear not: the book is not an academic tome, but simply an exploration of the epistemological techniques used by sentient species like us.
Rawson, Jessica | 2023 | Penguin Random House | 9780241472705
Subject: History
Source:
Review: When constructing monumental tombs thousands of years ago, the Egyptians built up with their pyramids whereas the Chinese built down, writes sinologist Jessica Rawson. The geology of China's dry Loess Plateau permitted the excavation of shafts more than 10 metres deep. These tombs were filled with objects for the afterlife. Rawson's majestic history explores 11 such monuments and one large sacrifi...Read More
Life and Afterlife in Ancient China
When constructing monumental tombs thousands of years ago, the Egyptians built up with their pyramids whereas the Chinese built down, writes sinologist Jessica Rawson. The geology of China's dry Loess Plateau permitted the excavation of shafts more than 10 metres deep. These tombs were filled with objects for the afterlife. Rawson's majestic history explores 11 such monuments and one large sacrificial deposit, dating from 5,000 years ago to the third century bc, with the First Emperor's protective Terracotta Army.
Rao, Arati Kumar | 2023 | Pan Macmillan | 9789395624435
Subject: Enviornment
Source: Telegraph
Review: The book is a deeply-felt account of India,s rich biodiversity and the close relationship that local communities share with their landscapes. Simultaneously, it is also an unsparing critique of our current model of development, which discounts local knowledge and prioritises top-down technical solutions.nnKumar-Rao's book is full of instances where development fixes, such as the canal projects in ...Read More
Marginlands: Indian Landscapes On The Brink
The book is a deeply-felt account of India,s rich biodiversity and the close relationship that local communities share with their landscapes. Simultaneously, it is also an unsparing critique of our current model of development, which discounts local knowledge and prioritises top-down technical solutions.nnKumar-Rao's book is full of instances where development fixes, such as the canal projects in Rajasthan or the barrages on the Ganga in West Bengal, have not only failed to serve their original purpose but also caused more harm in the process. For instance, canals with standing water in Rajasthan's villages have led to waterlogging and increased salinity. The result has been the creation of more wasteland and the spread of malaria and dengue because of mosquitoes breeding in still waters. In comparison, the local communities' traditional methods of rainwater harvesting provide potable water and account for the realities of desert soil.
Wallace, Jennifer Breheny | 2023 | Portfolio | 9780593191866
Subject: Psychology
Source: The Wall Street Journal
Review: A hardworking teenager let's call her Amanda'excels at school. She's a pianist, a varsity athlete, an honor student, and the president of the debate club. She gets early acceptance to an elite university, lands the right summer internships, and, after graduation, secures the job of her dreams. Amanda has run the race; she has hit the mark; she has lived up to her potential and fulfilled the ambiti...Read More
Never Enough: When Achievement Culture Becomes Toxic-and What We Can Do About It
A hardworking teenager let's call her Amanda'excels at school. She's a pianist, a varsity athlete, an honor student, and the president of the debate club. She gets early acceptance to an elite university, lands the right summer internships, and, after graduation, secures the job of her dreams. Amanda has run the race; she has hit the mark; she has lived up to her potential and fulfilled the ambitions of her parents. Unfortunately, she's also a mess. For years, despite the accolades, Amanda has felt utterly vacant inside, as Jennifer Breheny Wallace puts it in Never Enough, a timely exploration of adolescent achievement culture.
McIntyre, Lee | 2023 | The MIT Press | 9780262546300
Subject: Political Science
Source: Strategy + Business
Review: McIntyre begins by arguing that seventy years of lies about tobacco, evolution, global warming, and vaccines have brought us to the present moment of heightened disinformation because, throughout history, autocratic leaders and their wannabes have understood that the quickest way to control a population is to control their information sources. He summarizes the history of strategic denialism, desc...Read More
On Disinformation: How to Fight for Truth and Protect Democracy
McIntyre begins by arguing that seventy years of lies about tobacco, evolution, global warming, and vaccines have brought us to the present moment of heightened disinformation because, throughout history, autocratic leaders and their wannabes have understood that the quickest way to control a population is to control their information sources. He summarizes the history of strategic denialism, describing, for example, how tobacco companies specifically sought to get the public to question the truth about something that scientists didn't really question. (the health dangers posed by tobacco), and drawing parallels to strategies used by Donald Trump and those engaged in the Make America Great Again (MAGA) movement.
Anton, Ted | 2023 | Columbia University Press | 9780231555845
Subject: Science and Technology
Source: The Wall Street Journal
Review: After nearly a decade of effort, researchers at a small biotechnology company in Cambridge, Mass., were struggling. Founded by four world-class scientists in 2010, the startup had intended to bioengineer a fragile strip of genetic information, called messenger RNA (mRNA), into medicines for cardiovascular and immunological conditions. But it had little success. In 2013 the company pivoted to using...Read More
Programmable Planet: The Synthetic Biology Revolution
After nearly a decade of effort, researchers at a small biotechnology company in Cambridge, Mass., were struggling. Founded by four world-class scientists in 2010, the startup had intended to bioengineer a fragile strip of genetic information, called messenger RNA (mRNA), into medicines for cardiovascular and immunological conditions. But it had little success. In 2013 the company pivoted to using mRNA to stimulate the immune system, but six years later, despite having raised $1 billion, it still had neither revenue nor an approved product. Then, in 2022, the same company, named Moderna?along with another startup, Germany?s BioNTech?would earn the gratitude of the world for inventing the vaccines that transformed the fight against Covid-19.
Review: When chemist Humphry Davy ingested nitrous oxide in 1799, dubbing it laughing gas, he became a scientific hero as did psychologist William James a century later, for taking drugs to investigate mysticism. In 1949, the positive term psychonaut was invented for such rebels, says medical historian Mike Jay. Today, it connotes an unacceptable renegade, Jay notes in his provocative, highly readable med...Read More
Psychonauts: Drugs and the Making of the Modern Mind
When chemist Humphry Davy ingested nitrous oxide in 1799, dubbing it laughing gas, he became a scientific hero as did psychologist William James a century later, for taking drugs to investigate mysticism. In 1949, the positive term psychonaut was invented for such rebels, says medical historian Mike Jay. Today, it connotes an unacceptable renegade, Jay notes in his provocative, highly readable meditation on drug use by scientists, philosophers, writers and artists. All drugs have the potential to heal or to harm, he says.
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